Vixen Porta II Alt-Az Mount
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Vixen Porta II Alt-Az Mount
Vixen Porta II Mount
The lightweight altitude-azimuth (Alt-Az) Porta mount can be the heart of an exceptionally portable telescope/mount system. The Vixen Portamount II features a newly designed friction system for quickly pointing toward the target and tracking it with the 360-degree slow-motion controls. No fumbling with clutches or sectional slow-motion controls! Leave the heavy counterweights with the equatorial mounts: simply balance scopes up to 155 mm diameter on the altitude axis and start viewing!
The Vixen Porta Mount II comes equipped with two fine adjustment handles for whole circle slow motion in both directions - a necessity when searching for and tracking celestial objects. Or how about adjusting the friction level so the mount simply stays where you put it? In addition, the Vixen Porta is a great mount for terrestrial viewing, too. Its gear drives make it a simple matter to precisely track a planet or a ship on the horizon by just turning the elevation and/or azimuth control handles.
The Porta in this Vixen mount's name stands for "portability"... and with good reason. It weighs only 12 pounds including tripod - yet will support a payload of 20 pounds.
The World-Standard dovetail attachment system on Porta II was developed by Vixen. This allows the Vixen Porta II Mount to accept various dovetail mounted optical tubes and binoculars - making it a splendid travel companion for hikers, birdwatchers, traveling astronomers and more!
The standard Vixen dovetail mounting slot with lock and safety screw is fully Vixen Sphinx and Great Polaris compatible. This mounting slot removes to reveal number-20 and M8-1.25-inch threaded holes for custom mounting solutions for your scope, too!. The PortaMount II features switchable slow-motion knobs, tension adjustment and disassembly tools, built-in tool storage bay, tripod tray and aluminum legs.
Words on the Vixen Porta II Mount
"For so many years the beginning astronomer was forced to buy a mount that was unstable and almost useless when viewing at high power. More often than not, the frustration of using an unstable mount resulted in the telescope only being used for one night and being left in a closet to collect dust. The Porta II mount changes all that. It is one of Vixen's proudest designs. The combination of smooth movement, rigid design and stable platform makes your first use a pleasure and will bring you back to view more and more of the night sky." -- Mr. StarGuy
Vixen Porta II Mount Features
- Dovetail plate attachment system.
- One bolt standardized for easy tripod changes.
- No locks or clutches to worry about.
- 120 tooth wheel gears whole circle movement.
- Aluminum 2 section adjustable tripod.
- Tripod legs adjustable from 90 cm to 130 cm.
- Flexible elevation and or azimuth control handles.
- Accessory tray and tension adjustment tools included.
OPT Product Number: VX-5863
SPECIFICATIONS
| Computerized | Manual |
|---|---|
| Head Design | Altitude Azimuth |
| Instrument Capacity | 20 lb |
| Leg Length | 35.4" to 51" |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Saddle Width | V Series |
| Tracking Modes | Alt Azimuth |
| Tripod or Pier included | Yes |
| Warranty | 5 Year Warranty |
- Reviews
- Questions
United StatesEasy to adjust. Easy to use. The 2 hex wrenches needed for the adjustment are included and are stored on the mount. The fine alt/az knobs attach directly to the mount without a cable avoiding the need to worry about the cable coming lose. An easy adjustment of the mount changes the placement of the knobs so you don’t have to bend like a pretzel when you’re looking through the eye piece. It accommodates my 140mm Mak even with a one pound panoptic and is rock steady. While I was setting up for some solar viewing last week, I couldn’t help but wonder why I didn’t have something this good and this inexpensive 20 years ago when I bought my scope.
Can't review this yet as I haven't been able to take it out. However, this is the second Porta II I've owned and if this is like it's predecessor, then I'll be most happy!
Great tripod! Love it, makes turning and spinning my scope to any position in the sky.
As usual dealing with Rod was a fantastic experience!
I have bought this product recently, when OPT had great dela on selective ***** products, so I paid for the mount/tripod even less than it's regualrly sold for - plus I received that famous 5% discount from OPT! First, I am very happy with OPT, I always have been, they take care of you. I never had a problem whatsoever, even once when I had to return a pair of binos (not due to their fault). This product arrived very fast and in perfect condition (even the outer box). Second, I tried it so far only with the achromatic refractor, ***** A80Mf, the one Port II isregulrly sold as a package. I bought the scope as a demo unit over a year ago from another retailer. That package worksvery well and I am very p[lease with smuthness of the motion on both axis. Dumpening time is very short with normal 1.25" eyepieces and the diagonal. I'd say couple fo seconds tops. It keeps the weight of the scope and its basic accessories well. The tripod, when extended, is quite high but with a medium FL refractor like the one I use it's still required that one goes pretty much to his knees to look through the optical viewfinder - but not the eyepiece - when the scope points straight up, to the zenith. Slow motion controls work well though I think their coupling with the mount head (screws) could be executed better. It leaves sort of flimsy feeling. Not that they fell off so far, it's just that the connection does not seem really secure because it is not as easy to tighten the screws (one for each contorl) as it should be. I will try this mount with my Celestron NexStar 102GT refractor (another product purchased from OPT over a year ago when they had that crazy sale of them for unbelievably cheap - and excellent product, btw!) but I doubt the performance will be as good considering it's physical size (length and weight) and also that I will try it with 2" accessories. Thoguh I didn't try it with a small SCT or Mak (6" or smaller) or a small reflector (5" or smaller), my understaind from posts around the net is that this muunt does very well handling any of them. Maybe someone else with personal expereince can chip in to comment that. Overall, highly recommended and a great buy if you dont' care for EQ and/or Go-To mounts.
Mount is very functional but the tripod does not keep with the mount quality. I modified the mount to fit the Meade Giant field tripod making the unit first class.